The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant botanically known as Verbena×hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balwildared’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Arroyo Grande, Calif. during March 2003. The objective of the breeding program was the development of new freely flowering Verbena cultivars with large full inflorescences, attractive leaf and flower coloration and a trailing, spreading growth habit.
The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar was the proprietary Verbena×hybrida breeding selection designated BFP-2527, not patented, characterized by its purple rose-colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and semi-upright growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar was ‘USBENAL25’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,683, characterized by its large dark violet-colored flowers, semi-upright and outwardly spreading plant habit, and vigorous growth habit. The new Verbena was discovered and selected by the inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during August 2003 in a controlled environment at Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since August 2003 at Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.